together

hello! I'm sorry for the lack of updates. our life has been very full the past 3 months. here is a brief recap: jared moves back to the states, eileen finishes grad school, jared flies to seattle to stay with eileen for 2 weeks, eileen teaches 3 weeks in a row, family flies out to islandwood for graduation, stressful packing of eileen's cabin with parents, we sell the 1985 i was driving for $220, we meet up in chicago to dog sit while parents are in alaska, we drive down to indy with friends, we start moving into the cantrell family cabin in painted hills and start cleaning out and making it more of "our" place for the time we are in the states, eileen is in her cousin's wedding, and we start getting ready to leave for costa rica on august 19th!

wow, it has been a great summer so far and i have enjoyed being around family more often. the cantrell women started a bible study 6 weeks ago, and this has been the first week I was able to attend. while we were joined hands and praying, i was overwhelmed at the blessing of being married into a family of Christians, especially strong christian women who are there to support each other. that was a blessing i was not totally aware about, and i am very thankful.

it just reminds me to keep my eyes opened to all God has for me, which gets me excited for all the "extra" blessings God will have in store for my life. it was enough of a blessing to marry jared, but extra to have such a great new family. i love that God never ceases to teach me more and more about His heart and character. He is full of extravagant love that i do not deserve. I am thankful for his grace, patience, and mercy.

we are excited to be living together on a more permanent basis and would appreciate your prayers as we prepare to leave for costa rica in a couple of months!